Interview

By Margaret Lipman (September 6, 2005)

(Lasso Online Editor in Chief Margaret Lipman interviewed Mason Principal Bob Snee about the special challenges and opportunities facing the school this year.)

Lasso Online: As we start the 2005-2006 school year, what major challenges do you foresee? 

Mr. Snee: Our greatest challenge will be to successfully launch a new school year with a newly configured, 5-grade high school.  It will be a very different place in one sense but it must continue to be the welcoming, inviting and student-focused school that it has always been. We’ll know if we’ve been successful if our youngest eighth-grader (GR8) is as happy and successful here as our most experienced twelfth-grader (senior).

Lasso Online: GM is now being referred to as the “new and improved” GMHS…how so?  What’s different?  Mr. Snee: The most obvious manifestation of the newness and, I think, improvement, will be the incorporation of the GR8s into GMHS.  Another thing that will be obvious to all will be the relocation of the majority of the teachers, counselors and administrators.  The departure of grades 6 and 7 for the new middle school has resulted in our being able to utilize their former classroom and office spaces.  Students returning to GM will find that we have moved our newly expanded departments and tried to group all of their classrooms in the same vicinity. Even our veteran students will have to get to know where everything is and where people have been relocated.  To help them and all of our new students and staff we are color-coding our hallways this year and renumbering all rooms in a fashion we hope everyone will find a bit more logical and user-friendly. Finally, we are eager to see our new science labs put to use.  They are really beautiful facilities and they’re going to be a great addition to our school.

Principal Bob Snee provided welcoming remarks at this morning’s back-to-school assembly prepared by the SCA. In  the adjacent interview, Snee responded to many questions  submitted by Lasso Online related to special challenges  facing the school this year. (Lasso Online photo)

Lasso Online: Specifically, what does the addition of the 8^th grade to GMHS mean for the school, its faculty and its students?

Mr. Snee: I think it enriches our community to include the GR8s.  By making this the new first-year of high school, we’re giving our eighth-graders an opportunity to become accustomed to important aspects of high school life.  Those aspects are social and academic.  It means that we can meet the learning needs of GR8s in an environment that encourages individual and class responsibility while appropriately challenging each student as well as the entire grade level of students.  

Lasso Online: What are you most looking forward to this year?   Are you concerned about anything?  

Mr. Snee: Each year the thing I look forward to most is the very first day of school.  Until the students arrive and fill our classrooms, this is not really a school.  It’s just a building full of eager educators eager to do what they do well.    I’m also looking forward to being in classrooms a lot this year and seeing good teaching and effective learning in action.

I’m very excited about the Mustang Ambassadors Program, too, and I know it will be a key element in making our 8^th and 9^th graders feel that they’re an important part of GMHS.

I think each year brings the same concern for me:  we need to be a warm, welcoming and respectful community for all who learn and teach here.  For the most part that is exactly what GMHS is but it’s something we all have to work for together.  I hope everyone will reach out to someone this year and try to make his or her experience at GM a great one.  This has always been an inviting place and it’s because so many staff members and students put forth a great effort to make it that way.  We can never stop thinking about that.
 
Lasso Online: Other than becoming a five-year high school for the first time in a fifty-year history, are there any other major changes coming this school year?

Mr. Snee: The changes in the physical plant that I mentioned (science labs, new configurations of departments) are probably most noticeable.  We’ll also have a larger gym available to our teams.  The Mustang Gym is in the new middle school and we’ll be playing home games over there.

Our student body grows significantly and we have added many teachers, two counselors and one assistant principal. 

Our schedule will change slightly in that we begin 15 minutes later than we used to and we’ll move the daily period to first thing in the morning and begin all Days A and B with what we’ll call “Block Zero.”  Then an A Day will have only odd-numbered blocks:  1, 3 and 5 while a B Day will have 2, 4 and 6.  Lunches will occur during Blocks 3 and 4 and we expect shorter lunch lines since we’ll expand to 4 lunches, each serving about 200 students.
 
Lasso Online: What was the August 31 faculty session about?  What was accomplished there? 

Mr. Snee: We held a retreat for our entire staff which is something never done in the history of the school as far as I’m aware.  We had nearly 140 people gather at the USA Today building for a full day of activities and workshops.  The participants included teachers, paraprofessionals, custodians, bus drivers, food service workers, secretaries, maintenance personnel and administrators.  We watched an inspirational video about collaboration and leadership and we had an entire day to get to know each other better and to learn about the important functions performed by all categories of school staff. 

We very deliberately focused on collaboration and risk-taking because we believe that those are two hallmark elements of an effective school culture.  I think people came away from the retreat feeling like it was a fun and enjoyable day that offered good learning and reflection opportunities.
 
Lasso Online: What’s the situation with the science wing, which is still under construction?

Mr. Snee: It’s nearly finished, I’m happy to report.  While we will need to hold science classes elsewhere for the first week of school, we are told that we can occupy the new labs early in the following week.
 
Lasso Online: What will the parking situation be like this year?

Mr. Snee: We’ll begin as we began last year.  Only seniors may drive to school in the first two weeks and they must park in the senior lot.  The spaces will go to those who arrive first so any senior arriving at 7:50 a.m. may find it necessary to find off-campus parking.  The usual grace period of two weeks will allow us to gauge how much demand there is for the senior lot’s spaces.  We may have to hold a lottery for the purchase of permits, but we won’t know that for sure until we see what daily demand is.
 
Lasso Online: How much contact will Masonites have with the students at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School?   Will we be using their building at all?

Mr. Snee: There will be virtually no contact at all since our school schedules purposely do not coincide.  MEHMS begins its day at 7:30 a.m. and we begin at 8.  By the time GM students are dismissed at 3 p.m., the MS students are already gone.

The Mustang Gym is in the MEHMS and it will be used by GMHS teams.  There are also locker room facilities there for our athletes.  Since that use is scheduled for 3:45 p.m., after our GM activity period, there should be virtually no contact between MS and HS students.
 
Lasso Online: Will the GR8s be participating in all school events (i.e. Homecoming)?

Mr. Snee: We will be looking at community building events as well as class building events.  Homecoming is an event for our entire community so, yes, GR8s will be included at Homecoming.  There will be other events that are specifically for certain grades.  For example, on Friday we held a tailgate for just the 8^th and 9^th graders prior to the first home football game.  That was designed for those two grades and we’ll have other events designed just for one or some of the grades as the year goes on.  The prom, for example, will continue to be an event for just juniors and seniors.
 
Lasso Online: Any last thoughts for students as we get ready to begin the new school year?

Mr. Snee: I urge everyone to come back with high expectations for a great year!  If we keep our expectations high I think we’ll all be happy with the results.  I encourage our teachers to appropriately challenge all students and I encourage our students to rise to those challenges.  If we all do our part, there should be great joy in both teaching and learning.  What could be better for a school than joyful teachers and students?